Our team woke up before the sun once again this morning, and after our devotional covering Galatians 5 (regarding the fruit of the spirit) and a quick breakfast, we took our bus to the hospital, snapped a quick group pic, and got to work. Despite our team being fairly exhausted, we flew through surgeries all day and began packing up our team’s supplies after the last case.
The week has been so encouraging for all of us as we’ve gotten to hear the stories of individual patients and use the skills granted to us by God for good. One patient that we took care of this week was hearing impaired and largely unable to speak, and this made his whole hospital experience more foreign and frightening for him. Due to the nature of his surgery, our team was unable to discharge him after one night, and he had to stay for a second night in the wards at Hospital HG. However, while our surgical teams were in the operating rooms hour after hour, our team’s pastor and one of our team’s interpreters were able to visit this patient regularly during his stay at HHG.
Jon recounted to me a walk he took with this patient outside the hospital, and upon seeing the mountains, Jon was filled with a sense of beauty and grandeur at the sight of God’s creation, and this encouraged him and the patient, bringing a smile to both their faces. Likewise, while Jon prayed for this patient, our team’s interpreter transcribed the prayer in Spanish on her phone so that the patient could read it, and Jon said that it brought tears to both his and the patient’s eyes. Despite this patient’s impairments, our team was still able to love him and give him hope against all odds, thanks only to God.
It has been a miraculous experience caring for patients this week. On that note, Faith In Practice has recently constructed Casa de Milagros (House of Miracles) directly adjacent to Hospital Hilario Galindo so that patients and their family members can have a place to sleep before their surgeries if they don’t live close to the hospital (many patients travel considerable distances to get to Hospital Hilario Galindo). I mentioned this in my second blog post, but it’s worth noting again because it shows that the donations Faith In Practice recieves really do go to a good cause.
